Anne Shelby Clark, RIP September
29, 1939-December 10, 2019
St. David’s Episcopal Church Austin, Texas
The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling
It is a privilege and honor to be
with you today, especially with you my dear friend Ted, celebrating the life of
Anne with an E, as she would sometimes introduce herself. Perhaps you know that
Anne with an E has some very special people bearing the same name; and I’d like
to tell you briefly about three of them. First, there is Anne with an E, who
was the mother of Mary, and the grandmother of Jesus. Honored by Jewish,
Christian, and Islamic traditions, Saint Anne, was one of the patron saints of
women in labor. Now our Anne with an E, is a mother to Shelby and Kevin,
grandmother to their children, and fondly called PiPi Anne by the Karen
community, despite her gentle reminders to just call her Anne. She would also
argue that she is no saint, and yet the remembrances today, and our final hymn,
tell us a different story.
A second historical figure named
Anne with an E is Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry the 8th, who became Queen
of England after King Henry divorced his first wife. Unfortunately, unlike Ted
and Anne, there were no 56 years of marriage for her. Angering many people,
Queen Anne expropriated the money and lands from their monasteries for the
relief of the poor. Accused of adultery, she was executed by her husband at the
tender age of 26, after serving less than three years as Queen of England. Soon
enough, Queen Anne’s nickname became “Anne of the Thousand Days” unlike our own
queen Anne of 80 years.
Finally, there is a popular and current day Netflix series called Anne
with an E. Perhaps you’ve watched it? The show reimagines the classic book
about Anne of Green Gables. It is a “coming-of-age story about a young orphan
who is seeking love and her place in the world. Anne was a 13-year-old girl
adopted by an older couple and proved to be a uniquely spirited, imaginative,
and smart young woman, who transforms the lives of this couple and everyone
else in their small town.” Aside from the differences in their ages and hair
colors, these two Annes share some similar traits.
Today we celebrate our own beloved
Anne with an E who has made her own mark in history and in our lives. A
grandmother and mother in her own right, she was always ready and willing to
take people of all ages and cultures under her wing, caring for them pastorally
like a good shepherd. As an adopted child of God, through her baptism into the
life of Christ, our saint Anne would welcome the stranger, offer gracious
hospitality, defend human rights, and lift up the lowly. She was a faithful
member of Christ’s church, modeling her life after the Good Shepherd who we
call Jesus, gathering flocks of people into small communities everywhere she
lived, and caring for them as if they were her own.
It is tempting to lament the loss of
such a person in a world that sometimes feels cold and dark, unjust and without
mercy. Despite her elder years, her death still came as a shock to so many of
us; and tears for our loss are appropriate. As a member of a community of 12
friends from Trinity Church in Newtown, Connecticut, who gather every year in
the Adirondack mountains, I’ve known Anne and Ted for over 35 years, and I
always thought of her as someone who embodied our Christian faith, in both her
words and her actions. It grieves me to think that we are now only 11.
Elegant in her cross-country skiing, genuflecting as she fell,
graciously smiling and encouraging those of us who were struggling, Anne with
an E seemed to wait patiently for good things to happen. She was child-like in
her joy. One year she gave the women in our group solmate, eco-friendly,
mismatched socks, because life is too short for matching socks. We giggled with
delight while taking pictures of our feet.
Life is precious and too short; maybe like the rains in Texas, it’s
here today and gone tomorrow. I know Anne liked to travel, and so I imagine her
exploring new landscapes in that heavenly country where pain and sorrow are no
more. Life everlasting was promised to us by our Creator and revealed to us in
Jesus; and so the words of scripture remind us that “God shaped us for this
very end.”
As St. Paul wrote in his letter
to the Corinthians, we are bound by our earthly frames, and “even though our
outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
This slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory
beyond all measure.” Anne with an E has been released into freedom, like
a caterpillar who begins to fly like a butterfly, with the wings of an angel,
in order to arrive at God’s heavenly home. Anne with an E. That E stands for eternal.
No wonder we do not lose heart with
the troubles of today, and the grief and losses that we endure. If we keep our
eyes fixed on the things that are unseen, we will always have hope, and hope
does not disappoint us. I know that Anne loved the Rocky Mountains, and I also
like to imagine her there, on God’s holy mountain, where the Lord of hosts
makes “a feast of rich food, and of well-matured wines. On this mountain God
swallows up death forever and wipes away the tears from all our faces.” This is
the Lord for whom Anne with an E has waited; and so let us be glad and rejoice
in her salvation.
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 106: 1-5
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:9
John 10: 11-16
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